New Jersey governor’s allies say he will offer an endorsement, but no campaign appearances or fundraising help.

New Jer­sey Gov. Chris Christie finds him­self in an awk­ward situ­ation as he mulls wheth­er to of­fer any sup­port to his party’s tea-party Re­pub­lic­an Sen­ate nom­in­ee, Steve Loneg­an, against his Demo­crat­ic friend and off-and-on polit­ic­al ally, Cory Book­er.

Loneg­an, who cruised to vic­tory in Tues­day’s Re­pub­lic­an primary, has a frosty re­la­tion­ship with Christie, dat­ing back to his primary chal­lenge to the gov­ernor in the 2009 cam­paign. Just this week, Loneg­an earned a pub­lic scold­ing from Christie for his cam­paign’s ra­cially tinged tweet at­tack­ing Book­er. “This is a gov­ernor who calls it like he sees it,” said a source close to Christie. “When Steve Loneg­an says something and re­port­ers want the gov­ernor’s re­ac­tion, he’ll tell people what he thinks.”

But if Christie fails to sup­port his fel­low Re­pub­lic­an in the Sen­ate race, he could take blow­back from con­ser­vat­ives, already an­noyed by his re­la­tion­ship with Pres­id­ent Obama on hur­ricane re­cov­ery and his lack of in­terest in help­ing the party con­test the va­cant Sen­ate seat.

Christie al­lies ex­pect the gov­ernor to of­fer Loneg­an a form­al en­dorse­ment, but don’t ex­pect the gov­ernor to lift a fin­ger to cam­paign or raise money for his party’s nom­in­ee or lend him sup­port in his long-shot cam­paign against Book­er in the Oc­to­ber spe­cial elec­tion. “It doesn’t seem like that’s something he would in­vest in,” said one mem­ber of Christie’s in­ner circle. “Re­sources are lim­ited.”

For their part, Loneg­an’s team doesn’t seem to ex­pect much from the state’s most pop­u­lar Re­pub­lic­an in dec­ades. “They’re run­ning their race and they have their is­sues. We’re run­ning our race and we have our is­sues, and they’re just totally dif­fer­ent,” Loneg­an aide Rick Shaf­tan said. “Steve has to make the case for his own cam­paign.”

Christie’s camp doesn’t want to al­low Loneg­an — or any­thing else — to com­plic­ate his goal of notch­ing an his­tor­ic reelec­tion win in Novem­ber. Christie leads state Sen. Bar­bara Buono, his strug­gling Demo­crat­ic op­pon­ent, by more than 25 points in the latest pub­lic polls. While both sides ex­pect the race to tight­en as Elec­tion Day draws closer, a re­sound­ing vic­tory could bol­ster what prom­ises to be his main selling point to Re­pub­lic­ans in 2016: the abil­ity to ex­pand the pres­id­en­tial map in­to tra­di­tion­ally Demo­crat­ic states.

“At the end of the day, Chris Christie is most con­cerned with his own mar­gin of er­ror,” Mon­mouth Uni­versity Polling In­sti­tute Dir­ect­or Patrick Mur­ray said. “His primary strategy is to keep push­ing this im­age of the only guy who can win a blue state and there­fore can win the White House.”

But that de­sire for a land­slide reelec­tion isn’t the only way the Sen­ate race factors in­to the 2016 cal­cu­lus for Christie. He already angered some in the party with his de­cision to sched­ule the spe­cial elec­tion in Oc­to­ber, and his re­cent dus­tup with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., un­der­scored that Christie faces chal­lenges win­ning over the party’s act­iv­ist base. If Christie jumps in­to the pres­id­en­tial race, con­ser­vat­ive primary op­pon­ents may con­trast his lim­ited role in Loneg­an’s Sen­ate bid to his re­la­tion­ship with Book­er, one of the most high-pro­file Demo­crats in the coun­try. Christie’s al­lies ar­gue that an en­dorse­ment of Loneg­an will for­ti­fy him from such cri­ti­cism, and they point to his abil­ity to get along with Book­er as rare evid­ence of ci­vil­ity in today’s par­tis­an polit­ic­al world.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are threatening to block the spending bill—and prevent the Senate from leaving town—"because it would not extend benefits for retired coal miners for a year or pay for their pension plans. The current version of the bill would extend health benefits for four months. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday afternoon moved to end debate on the continuing resolution to fund the government through April 28. But unless Senate Democrats relent, that vote cannot be held until Saturday at 1 a.m. at the earliest, one hour after the current funding measure expires."

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PARLIAMENT VOTED 234-56

South Korean President Impeached

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

The South Korean parliament voted on Friday morning to impeach President Park Geun-hye over charges of corruption, claiming she allowed undue influence to a close confidante of hers. Ms. Park is now suspended as president for 180 days. South Korea's Constitutional Court will hear the case and decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

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CLOSED FOR INAUGURAL ACTIVITIES

NPS: Women’s March Can’t Use Lincoln Memorial

1 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Participants in the women's march on Washington the day after inauguration won't have access to the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has "filed documents securing large swaths of the national mall and Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration festivities. None of these spots will be open for protesters."

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2.1 PERCENT IN 2017

President Obama Boosts Civilian Federal Pay

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

President Obama on Thursday announced a pay raise for civilian federal employees of 2.1 percent come January 2017. He had said multiple times this year that salaries would go up 1.6 percent, so the Thursday announcement came as a surprise. The change was likely made to match the 2.1 percent increase in salary that members of the military will receive.

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SHUTDOWN LOOMING

House Approves Spending Bill

20 hours ago

BREAKING

The House has completed it's business for 2016 by passing a spending bill which will keep the government funded through April 28. The final vote tally was 326-96. The bill's standing in the Senate is a bit tenuous at the moment, as a trio of Democratic Senators have pledged to block the bill unless coal miners get a permanent extension on retirement and health benefits. The government runs out of money on Friday night.